Chapter 34

As a senior secretary who had navigated the professional world for several years, Guan Shen had more than enough experience in gauging his boss's mood index.

Before coming to Shengming Company, he had worked at the Qin Group. Compared to Qin Shiyu's craftiness and deep-seated cunning, Qin Chuan, despite his lack of facial expression during work, was much easier to deal with.

Over time, Guan Shen had even developed a skill of selectively prioritizing his reports based on his boss's mood.

But today, he found that his skill had failed.

Qin Chuan's mood seemed very bad.

Because from the moment he stepped out of the elevator and walked all the way to his office, his face was tense, and he stared straight ahead.

But in the corner of Guan Shen's eye, from a discreet peripheral glance, he clearly saw that the corners of his boss's mouth were slightly turned up.

Was he in a good mood, or a bad one?

Guan Shen was confused.

As he was leaving Qin Chuan's office, he saw Bo He coming to deliver a document for a signature.

Guan Shen actually had a pretty good impression of Bo He.

This good impression had nothing to do with romantic feelings.

An observer can easily tell whether a person's mind is on their work, or if it's split between their work and other things.

Guan Shen, like Qin Chuan, was a workaholic. In his opinion, the previously resigned Li Xi was clearly the type of person who mixed too many personal interests into her work, even using the recruitment of new staff to exchange for more benefits for herself.

Bo He, on the other hand, despite a few fumbles and accidents in front of Qin Chuan, was at least competent and could focus her mind on her work.

So before Bo He entered, he offered a well-intentioned reminder, "President Qin is quite strict about this project."

The implication was that if she wasn't completely familiar with the proposal she had made, she'd better not go in looking for a scolding.

Bo He nodded and smiled at Guan Shen, then pushed the door open and entered.

As soon as she entered, Qin Chuan indeed had a cold expression.

He didn't look up, his eyes scanning the document on his desk ten lines at a time.

Bo He said, "Hello, President Qin. This is the proposal revised according to your guidance yesterday. Please take a look."

Qin Chuan picked up the document, glanced at it, flipped through a few pages, sometimes nodding, sometimes frowning.

Bo He focused all her attention, waiting for a ruthless reprimand to come her way, but Qin Chuan never spoke.

Her legs were getting a bit sore from standing, so she couldn't help but shift slightly into a more comfortable position.

Qin Chuan seemed to notice, pointed to the chair opposite him, and gestured for her to sit down.

Bo He: ...

If she hadn't heard Qin Chuan talking to Guan Shen this morning, she might have thought her boss had suddenly gone mute.

A few minutes later, Qin Chuan signed the end of the document, closed it, and handed it to her.

Bo He thought he would at least offer a couple of comments.

Again, he said nothing.

The two of them stared at each other, eye to eye, as if performing a pantomime.

Bo He: "...Well, President Qin, I'll be leaving then."

Qin Chuan nodded.

The corner of Bo He's mouth twitched slightly as she turned and left the office.

She thought to herself: This boss really dislikes me, just as I expected. Those few extra words he was willing to say yesterday must have been because he was possessed.

Qin Chuan watched her back and thought to himself: Good thing I held back from speaking. Otherwise, I might have exposed myself.

As soon as Bo He went out, she ran into an unexpected old acquaintance.

Led by Tang Mi, Wei Feizhou came striding towards her like a meteor, full of vigor, not at all like a mature and steady businessman.

"Hello, President Wei." Bo He quickly made way.

To her surprise, Wei Feizhou stopped, laughed heartily, and proactively shook her hand.

"Isn't this Little Bo? Hello, hello! I've missed you since we parted on the island. We can be considered friends who have gone through hardship together!"

Beside them, Tang Mi showed a hint of surprise.

When the earthquake happened, she was in the hotel and had run to the ground floor with the panicked crowd to take emergency shelter.

While Guan Shen was busy trying to contact the unreachable Qin Chuan in the mountains, she also helped by making calls and running errands, afraid something had happened to her boss in the mountains.

As for what exactly had happened in the mountains at that time, and what role Bo He had played in it, Qin Chuan, Wei Feizhou, and the others didn't say, so no one knew.

It was only now, seeing Wei Feizhou's attitude towards Bo He, that she got a small glimpse of the truth.

If Bo He had just been a helpless damsel in distress being rescued, it's impossible that Wei Feizhou would treat her with such high regard.

Bo He, in a desperate attempt to gain President Qin's forgiveness or favor, found out that he went for morning runs on the back mountain, but unexpectedly encountered an earthquake, implicating Qin Chuan and causing him to be stranded in the mountains to save her.

—Many people believed that even if this version of the rumor wasn't entirely true, it was at least half true.

But Tang Mi now realized that things might not be at all what they had imagined.

The rumor might not even be ten percent true.

If Bo He had truly behaved as the rumor suggested, Wei Feizhou might now be making frivolous jokes or teasing her, but he would absolutely not be greeting her with such genuine emotion.

The thought flashed like lightning. Before Tang Mi could react further, Qin Chuan had already come out personally to greet them.

"President Wei, your presence brings light to my humble dwelling!" The two shook hands for a moment and then separated.

In front of Wei Feizhou, Qin Chuan couldn't pretend to be mute anymore, but he lowered his voice slightly.

Actually, last night, when Qin Chuan and Bo He were speaking through voice chat in such a noisy environment, Qin Chuan had intentionally muffled his mouth. Even if Bo He found his voice familiar, she would never have connected the virtual with reality and guessed such a coincidental outcome.

Wei Feizhou laughed heartily. "To be welcomed by President Qin himself, I'm the one who is honored. How's the leg injury? All healed, I hope?"

Qin Chuan nodded and said to Tang Mi, "To the conference room."

He didn't even glance at Bo He.

But Bo He couldn't just turn and leave. She had to watch the three of them depart before returning to her seat.

Tang Mi led the two into the conference room, presented the prepared documents, set out the tea and snacks, and then prepared to leave.

Before leaving, she thoughtfully asked, "President Wei, should I have Bo He see you out later?"

Before Wei Feizhou could respond, Qin Chuan said directly, "That won't be necessary. I will personally see President Wei out. You can get back to your work."

After Tang Mi closed the door, Wei Feizhou winked at Qin Chuan.

"Haven't won her over yet?"

Qin Chuan acted as if nothing was amiss. "I don't quite understand what President Wei is talking about."

Wei Feizhou said with a grin, "Bo He, of course. She's a great girl, and it doesn't look like you're not interested. Why keep a cold face towards her all day? That approach doesn't work on women with ulterior motives, and it will just scare off the decent ones. Don't wait until you've lost her to regret it. Need me to teach you a few tricks?"

Qin Chuan took a sip of tea. "I heard that President Wei and your wife were high school classmates."

Wei Feizhou: "More than that, we knew each other in middle school, just in different classes. My wife, she's been fierce since she was a kid, often chasing and hitting her classmates. Back then, she was the class monitor, responsible for collecting homework. There was this scoundrel in her class who would drag his feet, refuse to turn in homework, wouldn't even do it, and would often curse at his classmates instead. He was incredibly thick-skinned, even some teachers couldn't handle him. But my wife managed to scold him until he cried. Can you imagine how terrifying her skills were?"

The corner of Qin Chuan's mouth twitched. "President Wei truly has a heart for challenges!"

Wei Feizhou laughed loudly. "But I fell for her, what could I do? She responds to a soft approach, not a hard one, so I pestered her relentlessly. She was impervious to my advances, so I became as soft as silk, even more gentle than a young girl. Who could resist that? She was afraid I'd get bullied and started protecting me instead. And just like that, by protecting me, she became mine. After hearing all this, have you been inspired?"